Presently we’re Implementing the Biggest Economic Program in the History of Independent Armenia: Serzh Sargsyan
“I’m sure if there is a united approach, then the variant of Karabakh issue settlement will be found. However, this is the way the world is developing. There is no any regional issue, which wasn’t observed from the standpoint of their national interests. Frankly speaking, we don’t know its prescription, or, generally, is there any need to fight against it or not? As in its activities any country acts from its national interests,” Serzh Sargsyan, RA president, said in an interview with the Arabic “Al Mayadeen” TV.
The president stated, that the most appropriate routes connecting the West with Europe pass through our region, and a small part of one of those routes may comprise Armenia, Azerbaijan or Turkey. However, according to S.Sargsyan, productions move by the place, where it’s safer, where political issues don’t prevent economic ones, “In many cases, of course, the political one is being mixed to the economic, the economic with the political, security issues mix with economic, political issues and etc.
Thus, pure, crystal economic issues don’t exist. We, certainly, want Armenia to become a transit route, and we not only want, but we are performing huge work to that end. Currently we’re implementing the biggest economic program in the history of independent Armenia and we want to connect Georgia’s south to Iran’s north, through North-South Highway. It’s a program costing billion dollars, due to which time wasted to overcome that route will be twice shrunk. This is an important circumstance, so that goods reached to the Black Sea port from the West in a short period. Believe me, there is perception in Armenia, that despite religion, coexistence is a good condition for living. Finally, we all should realize that religions have border at least to some extent. People belonging to different religions live next to each other, or live inside one another, and extremism in any religion or a representative of that religion is always dangerous for the society.”
Touching upon CSTO, the president considers that CSTO is not a counterbalance to NATO, “Yes, CSTO is a military-political alliance, the goal of which is to ensure security of the member states. As the founding member, Armenia has always been convinced that CSTO intends to cooperate with NATO. We have not reached any tangible success in this issue yet, possibly because NATO is considered a more organized and acceptable structure. However, we do not observe our interests in the context of contradictions. We always wanted that interests of the USA and Russia coincided, and they had no conflicts. Search for interests, based on contradictions, is a dangerous process. We have such examples both in the region and in different parts. Being a CSTO member country, Armenia cooperates with NATO. This once again testifies that NATO and CSTO have not been established to have conflicts with each other.”
Touching upon the united air defense system he stated, “First of all, I would like to say this is not a new topic, it exists in our reality for a long time. Initially we even had a common CIS Air Defense System. It is already 7 years we have S-300 systems, and these are the major tools of our Air Defense System. If new missile systems are deployed in Armenia as part of the CSTO Air Defense System, it will be only positive since these are defensive measures. But I would like to state that the “joint system” doesn’t mean the abolition of the national systems, in this particular case Chief of the Air Defense of the Armenian Armed Forces will be the commander of the Armenian Air Defense Forces and he will give commands. This is not an abolition of the national Air Defense Systems, a creation of a common system, rather, it is a combination of efforts”, Serzh Sargsyan said. He said Armenia will implement its Air Defense with the support of its partners as they will do the same with Armenia’s support in case of necessity.
Prepared by Razmik Martirosyan
